Word 2007: File locations

August 7, 2009

In Word 2003, you could set the paths for your templates, start-up macros, AutoRecover files, etc. on the File Locations tab under Tools > Options. By default, your Word 2003 User Templates were under C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data \Microsoft\Templates and your start-up macros were under C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data \Microsoft\Word\STARTUP.

These aren’t so easy to find in Word 2007. So if you want to add a start-up macro or a new template to your User Templates location you could spend a fair bit of time (and a lot of frustration!) hunting for where they have to go. These locations aren’t listed in the usual Where did everything go resources either.

However, these file locations *are* in Word 2007 — but perhaps in a little deeper than you’d expect:

Click the Office button (also known as the Office pizza!).

Click Word Options.

Go to the Trust Center (sounds like a religious experience…).

Click Trust Center Settings to open the Trust Center dialog.

Click Trusted Locations. There they are!

The default location for User Templates in Word 2007 is C:\User\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates and the default location for start-up macros is C:\User\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word\Startup.